I want to share this story of God’s amazing work of fulfilling one vision, that of the Chinese Mobile Dunamis, as a means of helping you move into the dynamic of cooperating with the Holy Spirit to fulfill the vision that God has given us.
I am convinced that this giving of vision is one of the most fundamental works of the Holy Spirit and the primary way that we are called to shape human history.
It is promised in Acts 2:17, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams” (NIV).
It is through the gifts of prophecy, vision, and dreams that God not only allows us to see into the future but invites us as friends and coworkers to actually work with Him to create the future.
“It is so exciting to be co-creators with God!” I thought, as I looked out over the packed room of church leaders from China who had gathered in a secure location to be equipped for cooperating with the Holy Spirit.
The next prayer that came into my heart was,
“This is the fulfillment of the vision that you, oh Lord, gave me in 2012 of establishing equipping bases inside and outside of China and of distributing flash drives so that each of these leaders can start their own Dunamis Schools to pass on the teaching and anointing of the Holy Spirit to others! Lord, how did this happen? Just how is it happening?”
As I look back, the answer to that question is important for all of us as we seek to follow Jesus and implement the vision that He may have given us.
First, the vison had to be shared with others and discerned as to whether it was from the Lord.
The PRMI Board of Directors, co-workers in Chinese churches in America, and members of the Dunamis Fellowship Korea all affirmed that “YES” this was from the Lord.
The second step was to pray for open doors, for the provision of finances, and for people empowered to implement this vision.
This work of prayer is critical because in prayer we present back to God the vision He has given us–which is impossible in our own strength–and ask for His guidance, provision, and anointing to do His impossible work.
The work of prayer was done by many in America and in Korea, including the community at Jesus Abbey and the members of Dunamis Fellowship Korea, but one group that I want to make special mention of is the prayer group of Grace Community Chinese Church in Flushing New York, pastored by Dr. John Chang.
They not only shared the vision of equipping leaders for the great move of the Holy Spirit in China, but they included this work in their early-morning prayer meetings for months, persistently interceding to pray it into reality. Prayer opens the way for the fulfillment of vison.
Third, all through this time, John Chang, Cindy Strickler, Pastor Ahn, Ben Torrey, and I–with, no doubt, many others–were all praying for the gift of faith to trust that somehow God really did want us to offer this equipping.
We needed faith to:
- Expect that God would provide financially
- Draw the Chinese leaders to the location
- Believe that God the Father would actually pour out his Holy Spirit upon us once we had all gathered at the location.
Frankly, there were many times when this looked completely impossible and much too expensive. We all wondered whether anyone would come. I know that I persistently prayed for the gift of faith and had this crazy confidence that the provision would all come in and that the Father would indeed pour out His Holy Spirit.
Fourth, we recognized that faith is empty unless clothed in obedience, so we all stepped out in faith to launch this whole endeavor.
This took putting down money for the venue nearly six months before the equipping course was to take place…money that we did not have. It took buying hundreds of flash drives and spending hours preparing the materials. It took us all buying airline tickets.
At this stage, the Chinese leaders also stepped out in obedient faith to make the preparations to attend.
We then showed up, led by the Holy Spirit, in faith and expectation.
Among us there were three languages spoken–English, Korean, and Chinese–and major cultural barriers to get past. In the face of all these difficulties, we all gathered and the Lord formed us into the team needed to create the context for Him to work in equipping these Chinese leaders.
It was amazing!! I want to thank all who were part of this, including those of you who responded to my letter asking for the much needed money of about six hundred dollars per Chinese leader. Thank you!!!
You came through with generous gifts that covered a significant portion of the onsite expenses for the church leaders. The Chinese Church in New York and Rev. Ahn’s church in Pusan also contributed a great deal to covering the expenses, and when we provided the opportunity for the Chinese leaders themselves to give financial support, they did!
These principles of cooperating with the Holy Spirit are for all of us who are called to Kingdom work.
But what of the fruit? It is not enough that the event happened, miraculous as that was! What did God do in the people? Each of us on the team have testimonies of what we personally observed and experienced, but here is one that we received from a participant who leads a home fellowship. These are her own unedited words:
“I really enjoy the teaching. Two pastors’ teaching was so good that touched my heart a lot. I really want more, but five days was not a long time. I think the whole course is great, the truth foundation is so good, and the cooperation with the Holy Spirit is also good. I really want more Chinese people and churches can receive the course. I will continue to pray for the ministry, because I believe that it’s God’s will.
They gave books 1-3 in Chinese to every student, and Cindy gave me the book of The Healing Ministry of Jesus in English. I will read it by myself. But I’m waiting for the training of books 3-7.
And I really like your team, they cooperate together so well, they are humble, and they have strength in their hearts. I enjoyed working together with the team. I did something in the intercession team, and I experienced wonderful fellowship in the team. I enjoyed the time with them.
I also was filled with the Holy Spirit a lot. God strengthen my calling and vision through those five days experience. When they prayed for Chinese people to be filled with the Holy Spirit in one evening it was wonderful! I received the same calling from God that I shared with you before.
After the prayer time for all people, Pastor Long shared one vision for someone that he saw during the prayer time, his vision was the same as I received. God called me to pray for people to come into His love, God wants me to help people to receive His healing in their hearts so they could experience His love. I think God gives me a heart to feel His broken heart because people are far away from His heart, and also feel people’s hurts in their hearts so I can help them to receive God’s healing.”
Reports like these are so encouraging to us! They are a strong affirmation from the Holy Spirit that these events are worth all the cost and trouble and that we should continue to offer this equipping. Last year there were about 40 in attendance, while this year we had 90 new and 15 returning participants for a total of 105. Next year, as word gets out, we anticipate even more!
The teaching was wrapped in prayer and worship. The 105 participants were from the far distant reaches of China and were from all sorts of different churches and fellowships. They came because of an urgent need for teaching and equipping in the power of the Holy Spirit. We did a lot of teaching to get through Units #1 and #2 but we also had very good times in small groups for discussion.
There was also time for prayer and ministry both in the large group and in small groups which met each day. When we offered a time of laying on of hands for prayer to be baptized or filled with the Holy Spirit, we experienced a very powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit. At other times there was prayer for healing, guidance, and personal concerns. Again and again we would model ministry and then invite the participants to practice what they had learned.
A unique aspect of this year’s event is that we were able to bring those who had attended the year before right into leadership with us. These returning participants led the small groups, took part in intercession, and joined in the team meetings for discernment. Please pray for God to raise up gifted Chinese leaders who, after equipping others alongside us, can eventually replace us.
One final word is that this work is very expensive, with a combined cost of about 60,000 U.S. dollars. Obviously, it would be cheaper for us to send teams directly into China– which we are doing but, unfortunately, can’t tell you much about. The equipping base in Korea, while costly, has the important role of opening doors for us to work in China and coming alongside the teams deployed to teach and minister there. The Lord uses our partnership with the Dunamis Fellowship of Korea to provide us with massive prayer, logistical, and financial support. These Korean brothers and sisters have a huge burden for the Chinese to come to Christ and help to connect PRMI to the large, intensely committed Korean community in China itself.
Ultimately, the vision that God has given us is to establish bases inside and outside of China with hundreds of leaders being equipped through the Dunamis Teaching. Those leaders can then train other Chinese leaders, starting thousands of Dunamis Schools in which millions of Chinese Christians may be filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered to take their place in fulfilling the Great Commission. I am so excited to report to you that the Holy Spirit is fulfilling this vision and mission strategy for the glory of Jesus Christ.
